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Saturday, December 16, 2017

We took the money and ran!

We made it out to do some exploring at around 10:30am. We were waiting for the sun to come out, but it didn't look promising!

I have to admit, we expected it to be warmer getting this far south. But, that's the problem with the southern U.S... decent weather is not guaranteed in the winter. One of the reasons we love Mexico in the winter. Once you are in that country, you can have whatever weather you want within a four hour drive.

Yesterday's high was around 50F (10C).

Ruth, with the twin bridges over the Mississippi River.

The original bridge (now westbound only) connecting Natchez, Mississippi to Louisiana was built in 1940, and the eastbound bridge was built in 1988.

We walked down to the "Under the Hill" area close to the river.

Lots of information boards along the way.

Back at the top of the bank in the main part of Natchez, we had a map with a couple of walking tour routes. Mostly, it was about the many historic buildings and homes that were built in the early 1800's.

Downtown Natchez.

Very few people out walking. One local lady we spoke to said it's because of the abnormal cold!

Ready for Christmas.

St. Mary Basilica Catholic Church.

By noon, we were ready for something to eat. Ruth had read about a popular restaurant called Fat Mama's Tamales, so we decided to treat ourselves to a meal out.

Fat Mama's Tamales.

Ruth, with her "Gringo Pie" and "Knock You Naked" margarita!

We each had the Gringo Pie, which is three tamales covered with chili con carne, cheese, onions, and jalapeno peppers. Pretty good! For $7.00 each, it was a decent plate of food. Total bill came to $25.00 USD ($33.00 CAD) with Ruth's $7.50 large margarita, and my $3.50 large draft beer. No tipping, because there are no waiters. It's kind of cafeteria style.

Hmm, where do we want to go? We are headed to Cancun!

This church had nice Tiffany stained glass.

An actual working fountain!

The oldest building in Natchez... the pub!

Stanton Hall.

In 1857, Irish immigrant and cotton merchant Frederick Stanton began construction on the home of his dreams: a palatial Greek Revival style residence in the heart of Natchez. Then known as Belfast, Stanton's home occupied an entire city block and cost over $83,000 before it was even furnished. Marble mantel pieces were imported from New York, ornate gasoliers were purchased from Philadelphia, and immense mirrors were ordered from France. The facade of Stanton's home was equally impressive with its Corinthian columns and delicate cast iron railings.

The home was completed only months before Stanton's death in 1859 and was occupied by Union troops during the Civil War. The family remained in residence until 1894, at which point the building was transformed into the Stanton College for Young Ladies and rechristened Stanton Hall.

View of the Mississippi River and the Magnolia Bluffs Casino down below.

Rosalie Mansion, built in 1823.

We arrived back at Sherman just after 3:00pm, having walked 7.2 miles (11.7 kms).

After supper, we walked across the street from the visitors center to the Magnolia Bluffs Hotel where we could take a free shuttle bus to the casino where they supposedly had free live music starting at 7:30pm.

We went straight to the Players Club counter, where they loaded our new card with $10 of free slot play.

Of course they count on you losing that quickly, but we know how to play their game. We keep track of the winnings from each spin of the wheels and only gamble that original $10. This way, we are virtually guaranteed to walk away with at least some cash.

Ruth turned her $10 of free play into $7.40 cold hard cash! I tuned mine into a whole $2.00!

The advertised live music turned out to be a local DJ. So, with no more interest in the place we took the money and ran!

We're headed due west from here today. We have no interest in the busy I-10 corridor south of here, or the area around Houston, Texas so our route is going to take us in between Houston and Dallas before we start to head south again.

Did the Margaretta work?? There's a nice town to explore in Texas that looks like is in your way called Fredrickberg. There's a nice RV park right in town and its walking distance to the high street. Great German food place too.Have fun!

It always amazed me how the elite back then would order things from overseas to build/furnish their house. And I wonder if I can get stuff in town! Thanks for keeping us in the loop of your ongoing tour!

Pam, other than their plantations, the southern planters had a town house (like the houses above) to participate in the "social season" in town and sent their boys to Europe for a "proper" education. Young ladies stayed home to learn the graces and how to properly entertain and run a household.

Since the drums of war were beating in the US Congress before the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, I wonder if the deaths of these men at such a young age who were building these mansions just before the war could be attributed to the stress of possibly losing their fortunes if war ensued. Of course, the fortunes WERE lost because at the end of the war the planters were holding Confederate States of America currency (CSA), not gold. The very high taxes on the planters' land during Reconstruction after the war could not be paid in CSA currency. My point is that if the planters' families were able to hold onto the mansions in the pictures above after the war, someone in those families was smart enough to convert part of their wealth to gold.

Keep in mind that back then Europe was the place of culture and refinement, the United States was still a pretty new and rough country back then and wouldn't have had all these beautiful things that these elite people felt were necessary, sorry not necessary but rather stuff to show off their wealth.

My best friend who lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, had snow last week....and a lot of it! Not very often they see snow. When we lived in the Ouachita Mts in southwestern Arkansas, we had ice storms and snow this time of year, so you never know.

Yep, Jackson, Mississippi had snow that is part of the reason that we stayed in the Tupelo area a little longer. Luckily the snow only lasted the day before it started melting.

The weather seems very unpredictable all over Canada and the States at the moment. We are looking forward to heading down to Mexico where it is a little more reliable. Even with the bit of snow they had last week but that was up in the higher elevations.

Too bad you can't head into Mexico early, because Christmas weather in Southern Texas is not looking great right now. The local TV station has a poll out right now asking if people will be ok with a White Christmas!!! I love the big casino win and can hear Ruth hollering "Start the car!!!!" as she is running out with the big winnings. Travel Safe.

Okay, this is a long story... you better make yourself comfortable! Some of our long time readers might remember that I (Kevin) need to ge...

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